Hello, everyone! I made this chapter extra long to make up for the late updates. Anyways, please enjoy!
Maki woke with a splitting headache. "Ugh..."
Why do I have a headache?
OH MY GOD.
Maki jumped out of her bed as it dawned on her that she had gotten completely drunk last night. Why did I get drunk? I must've done something embarrassing...
Maki glanced at the mirror and yelped in shock.
Her shirt was stained with alcohol, her hair a mess, and her face full of lipstick stains.
Maki was horrified.
Absolutely horrified.
What do I do now? Who kissed my cheek? What did I do? How will I go outside now?
Maki stood in front of the mirror frozen in shock. Well, I'm dead. What time is it?
Maki looked for her phone, and when she saw it lying on the floor, Maki picked it up.
9:44
That's pretty late. I should get ready for breakfast but...
OH. MY. GOD.
MY STAFF!
What will I do about the staff members who witnessed me drunk? They will never look at me the same way again!
Maki paced around her room, anxiety crawling up her spine. I'll have to call the staff member I trust the most.
Maki dialed a number and nervously waited for the woman to answer.
"Hello?"
"Miss Loretta, I...I'm very sorry about what happened last night. I hope that you and the other staff members did not have a hard time cleaning up..."
"Miss Maki, everything is alright. We cleaned up everything, and breakfast is ready."
"Are any of my friends out of their rooms?"
"The lady with the long blonde hair has had breakfast, and she is currently reading by the pool. Everyone else is in their rooms, although I heard some voices a few minutes ago."
"Oh...I see. If anybody else goes downstairs, please tell them to eat something, and I...I will have breakfast in my room today."
"I see. What would you like, pancakes or yogurt with fruit?"
"I would actually prefer some soup. Maybe some minestrone?"
"I shall bring it up to your room in 20 minutes. "
"Thank you. Oh, and before I hang up this call, can you please keep it a secret that I gave you these orders and had a phone call with you?"
"Of course."
"Thank you." Maki hung up the call and entered her bathroom to shower.
When Maki came out, she heard a knock om her door.
"Miss Nishkino? I have brought your breakfast."
"Please just place it on the floor in front of my room."
I can not leave this room.
Once the maid left, Maki put on a t-shirt and some jeans. My headache is starting to subside.
Maki opened her door just a crack and quickly grabbed the tray of food, to ensure that nobody saw her.
Although, their rooms were literally on the other side of the house, but whatever.
Maki checked the time again.
10:15
Maki looked at her breakfast. There was a big bowl of piping hot minestrone soup, and some bread on the side, as well as some baby tomatoes in a little bowl, all placed in a fancy metal tray.
Maki sat down at her desk and started to eat the soup slowly.
Maki checked the time.
11:00
Maki heard banging on her door. "MAKI! YOU NEED TO COME OUT IMMEDIATELY! I WANNA GO SHOPPING!"
Crap.
Maki bit her lip and stayed silent.
"MAKI! I KNOW YOU'RE AWAKE ANSWER ME ALREADY!"
...
"MAKI! UGH! Okay, I give up. ELI!"
There were soft whispering sounds, and then Maki heard Eli clear her throat.
"Maki, I am alone now, Nico has decided to go get breakfast. You need to come outside, Umi told me about your idea for our play."
...
"Maki... don't be embarrassed. Nozomi had already sworn not to mention last night and the pictures and videos were... well, Nozomi swore not to show them to anyone. So, will you please come out?"
Maki bit her lip harder.
"If you're not going to come out then at least can you-"
"If someone mentions last night, I shall be in my room for the rest of this trip." Maki opened the door.
"Finally! Now, Nozomi will take Nico to the mall, while we have our meeting. Alright?"
Maki nodded.
"So, we are going to produce a play for Nico's birthday! Maki here has thought up of an idea, and she's going to tell us now!" Eli nodded at Maki.
"Um, so Nico likes cliche princess stories, right? So I was thinking about making the play about a kidnapped princess."
Rin raised her hand. "Maki! I have a question."
"Yes?"
"What's the story?"
"Well, the beautiful princess is kidnapped by the prince from a nearby kingdom, and the king and queen offer a reward to anyone young man to save her-"
"Maki! That's sexist! Women can save her too!" Rin interrupted.
Maki gritted her teeth. "That is true, but for the sake of the story, I'm going to ignore that. Anyways, a brave young man decides to embark on a mission, but he doesn't have any money! So, he works in a haunted house before her leaves, and he buys a sword and some food. Then he embarks on the mission."
"Maki! What about the eating contest?" Honoka asked.
"Well, the young man enters one during his journey. Oh, and meanwhile, the princess gets harassed by the evil prince. And, um, just as the evil prince is about to kill the princess, the young man bursts into the room and saves the princess. Eventually, they get married and the story ends." Maki scanned her friends' faces. "So... What do you guys think?"
Hanayo smiled slightly. "Seems like something Nico would enjoy."
Umi nodded. "Yes...and we don't have any better ideas so let's just use this one."
"Okay, so now we have to think of the people playing each character." Eli started to write on Maki's notebook. "There are 8 characters in all: The Princess, The Young Man, The King, The Queen, The Evil Prince, The Haunted House Manager, and 2 eating contest competitors. I think that there should be 2 people working backstage, so that leaves us 6 girls to play 8 characters... Hmm, alright we'll figure that out later. Does anyone want to play a specific character?"
Honoka, Rin and Hanayo's hands shot up.
Eli sighed. "Honoka?"
"I wanna play the eating contest competitor!"
Eli wrote Honoka's name down. "Rin?"
"Haunted house manager!"
Eli wrote it down. "And...Hanayo?"
"Eating contest competitor, please!"
Eli wrote Hanayo's name down. "Okay...anyone else? We still have the princess, the man, the king and queen, and the evil prince left."
Umi shyly raised her hand. "Can I work backstage?"
Eli nodded and wrote down Umi's name down. "Anyone else?"
"I want to work backstage," Maki stated.
Rin slammed her hand on her lap. "No way, Maki! You have to play the princess! Nico would love it!"
Eli made an apologetic face at Maki. "Sorry, Maki, but Rin's right. Besides, it would be inappropriate for the owner of the house to work behind the scene."
Maki frowned. "So I have to play the princess?"
"...Yes."
Maki gritted her teeth.
"Moving on! We need another person to work backstage...How about you, Kotori?"
Kotori nodded. "Sure! I can help with the hair, makeup, and costumes!"
Eli smiled. "Okay, so we now we need the king and queen! Hmm, maybe Nozomi can play the queen. Honoka, do you want to play the king in addition to the eating contest competitor?"
"Okay!"
"Wait." Maki narrowed her eyes at Eli. "Who are YOU playing?"
Eli clasped her hands together. "I completely forgot about myself! Let's see, we have the part of the young man, and the part of the evil prince left. Who wants to be one of these?"
Rin raised her hand. "I wanna be the evil prince! Mwahahahahahaha!"
Eli smiled slightly. "Er... Sure. Then I guess I'll be the young man." Eli wrote her own name down onto the notebook. "So here are the castings: Rin as the evil prince and the haunted house manager, Hanayo as the eating contest competitor, Maki as the Princess, Honoka as the King and the eating contest competitor, Kotori and Umi working backstage, Nozomi as the Queen, and I am the young man."
Maki bit her lip. "We don't have any names, though."
"Hmm..the names huh? Anyone have suggestions?" Eli called.
Kotori spoke, "Can we name the princess after a flower? It would be cute."
"A flower?" Maki said. "Lavender, Daisy, Sunflower, Rose..." Maki suddenly thought about the incredible rose flavored ice cream she tasted a few days ago. "How about Princess Rose?"
"But is that classy enough?" Eli asked. "I want a really classy name for the princess."
Maki thought of all of the flowers she could think of. "Jasmine, Orchid, Bluebell, Tulip, Magnolia... Princess Magnolia sounds pretty good."
"Magnolia, huh? What if we changed it a bit to make it sound royal? Like Amornia or something, " Umi stated.
"Oh! That actually sounds really nice!" Eli exclaimed.
Maki nodded. "Amornia? Sounds like Ammonia, the compound of nitrogen and hydrogen."
"What?" Honoka scratched her head.
"Um...Nevermind. Princess Amornia it is. What about the young man?" Maki asked.
"OH! OH! LET'S NAME HIM BOB!" Rin shouted.
Honoka nodded her head vigorously. "BOB! BOB!"
Eli winced. "Bob is a bit..."
"Classless. Bob is classless," Maki said, breaking Rin's and Honoka's hearts. "Sorry."
"How about Elise?" Umi suggested.
"That's perfect!" Eli stared at Umi. "Where did you get all of these ideas?"
Umi shrugged. "Read too many novels."
"Elise is good. What about the evil prince? He has to sound evil."
Eli turned to Umi. "Well, you think of the best names. What do you think, Umi?"
"Vorit. Prince Vorit."
"Sounds like vomit. Well, the guy is a disgusting human being, so it's a fitting name, " Maki said. "I think the rest of characters aren't that important so we don't have to think of their names now. Actually... Honoka, Rin, Hanayo. How would you guys like to name the characters you are playing?"
Hanayo's eyes lit up. "Name the eating contest competitor Rice!"
"Name my eating contest dude Bread!"
Hanayo glared at Honoka and vice versa.
"Maki, name the haunted house manager Bob!" Rin called.
Eli sighed and wrote down the classless names. "Well, at least they are minor characters..."
"Well, we've got most of this play planned out. Should we write a script or just wing it?" Maki asked.
"Script for sure. Winging it is pretty much impossible. I'll write the script." Eli said. "What are you guys going to do?"
"We have 2 more hours until Nico comes back, and 7 days until we have to perform... I'll help you, Eli." Umi volunteered.
"I'll help figure out some hairstyles and makeup," Kotori stated. "Although I'll have to wait for the script before I can design the costumes."
"I have some old dresses you can for the actual play," Maki pursed her lips. "But they might not be in the right sizes."
"That's fine, I can alter them. But I still need to know what to design before I can actually start. So I'll do the hair and makeup first." Kotori smiled.
"Maki, what will you do to contribute?" Eli asked.
"I... I'll set up a room to work in, and I'll go buy any supplies we'll need," Maki replied.
"Can I go with you?" Rin's eyes were shining.
"Um, sure." Maki fidgeted her fingers slightly. Rin is going to cause a huge mess at the mall. "Honoka, what are you going to do?"
"I'll help you set up a practice room, Maki! And Hanayo you should help us too!"
Hanayo nodded. "Okay!"
"Alright, so everyone knows what they are going to do, Umi and I will try to finish the script by tomorrow morning, and Maki, how long do you want the play to be?" Eli inquired.
"Maybe... 1 hour?" Maki replied.
"Okay. Well then, let's get started!"
Eli and Umi started talking together immediately, and Maki began to walk away.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I will try to update more often! This chapter was really fun to write. Thank you to everyone who reads this story, and please review!
Note: Eli is classy